Aggreko Restores Power to Southern Argentina following Volcanic Eruption

10 August 2011: Rio Negro andNeuquen, Argentina - Aggreko, the world leader in the provision of temporary power and temperature control services, has supplied emergency power to the provinces of Rio Negro and Neuquen in Argentina’s Patagonia region following the recent eruption of the Puyehue volcano in neighboring Chile.

The eruption, which began on 4 June 2011, resulted in tremendous quantities of volcanic ash being spread across vast areas of both Chile and Argentina, causing major disruptions to infrastructure throughout the region. Faced with a number of failures in electricity supply, Energia Argentina Sociedad Anonima (ENARSA), the state utility company, responded quickly by calling on Aggreko to provide a total package of 12 MW of emergency power to be spread across different locations in Rio Negro and Neuquen provinces.

ENARSA first contacted Aggreko on 7 June requesting emergency power for the cities of Bariloche, Ing Jacobacci and Villa la Angostura which were the most severely affected by the eruption. In spite of major accessibility issues due to many roads being covered in thick layers of volcanic ash, Aggreko was able to fully commission the first 7 MW of power in Bariloche on 18 June, just 11 days after being contacted by ENARSA. This quick action ensured power was rapidly restored to businesses and over 11,000 households across the region.

Commenting on the project, Diogenes Paoli Neto, Managing Director, Aggreko South America, said: “With many roads completely covered in ash, the project presented some logistical challenges, but in spite of this, the entire team did a tremendous job in responding to the situation and restoring power to thousands of people in the region. Over the past several years, we have continued to increase our local capacity, which has made our ability to provide large-scale rapid response even more certain.”

Carlos Davidson, Corporate Relations Manager, ENARSA, said: “Having worked closely with Aggreko since 2007 we knew immediately they could help us in responding to this unprecedented crisis. Aggreko demonstrated once again their ability to deliver emergency power solutions across multiple locations, within short turnaround times, under very difficult circumstances. Their rental solutions totally matched our requirements.”